Int Hq

[JonoBN41]

He really was. KY, TN, I forget (conveniently).

[lifesaver]

Originally posted by Aphrodelik96
So its ok for our chapter to be paying 157 per man when we should be paying $50-70 less? why?

Dont get me wrong...I love Lambda Chi...and Ive been in the fraternity for 4 years now...but time and time again...we pay for HQs mishaps...Im just tired of it. I understand..."life isnt fair" in the real world...but this is FRATERNITY...not a real job...its not everyones "LIFE"...for some its just something to do and talk about when youre not in class...not to mention we're paying for it...

All im saying is that I shouldnt be charged for something I didnt "buy."

I agree. You shouldnt be charged for something you didnt buy. Thats something that you should take up with someone other than the dammned ELC. You deal with your region coordinator, Shane Foley or Sara Harris on a risk management / finance issue. Why ON EARTH would you even get involved with the ELC on a paperwork issue? "In the real world' you handle that stuff yourself; Hell, the guys in the colony I advis got that much figured out. When we had a problem with our insurance rates and they needed to be adjusted, they didnt rely on the ELC to handle it. Thats not his job (his job is to point you in the right direction, not do it for you. His job is also to identify problems in management and ops in the chapter/colony and help you craft a plan for action.) When the ELC here wanted to handle something paperwork-wise, I wouldnt let him. My guys faxed the form, and then sent the paperwork in with return reciept requested. Then you follow up with daily, weekly calls to HQ. My guys have never had a problem in this area and staff has been extreemly responsive... ya just gotta rattle the right trees. And they're not ELC trees. Everyone is dealing with the other little things, school, recruitment, etc. Many other chapters have fun and handle their $hit. As a matter of fact, theres about 200+ that do.

BTW, youre not paying for HQ's mishaps. If ya wanna be super technical about stuff, youre actually paying for other chapters mess-ups, which is why we have to have insurance in the first dammned place. Anyone here remember what happend with Lambda Chi at Rutgers, or Iowa?

The fraternity dosent have to be yours or anyones life, and it should be fun. Once you get the paperwork handeled, you can go back to the business of having a good time.

Contact the people at HQ I listed above. I gurantee they can help you. (317) 872-8000. I hope you get your situation resolved. If ya can PROVE that you handled your paperwork in the past, sounds liek ya have a good case for a credit. But they have those deadlines for a reason; they have to estimate and buy the insurance by a certain date. If the deadlines are missed, they go with the estimates they have for your group. Worth a try tho. Just dont leave it to the ELC's. Its not their job.

[GammaZeta]

I think that everyone is working their butt off and trying their best at IHQ, I don't doubt that. But in reality, you get what you pay for.

Looking over the resumes, they don't have the proper background, and "on the job training" really should not be an option.

You can hire property management firms, real estate management firms, individuals that are familiar with state and city codes, who are familiar with running dozens of properties across the USA, etc. Maybe the reason IHQ has been in trouble over the last decade has been because we haven't been hiring professional accountants and business managers.

And leno, I'll tell you who I am. I'm one of the 16 brothers that had to take legal action against LCAP because they tried to enforce an illegal contract and tried to illegally hold my security deposit. I was also a dues paying brother, and like it or not, I'm entitled to my opinion.

I looked at their background, and tell me, if they applied for the same position at another company, or organization, would you hire a guy for property management that had a degree in electric engineering? I wouldn't. And it's not just LCAP, it's mostly for the other positions as well as I stated.

If we have 5,000 paying dues x $15 extra = $75,000. Apply that money to current salaries and hire someone with qulifications. There are professionals out there that can make our fraternity run more efficient, more cost productive, that don't require on the job training and can truly separate the business aspect from the brotherhood aspect to make sound financial decisions. And the money and time we save on that would be worth the extra $15.

[lifesaver]

Originally posted by GammaZeta

If we have 5,000 paying dues x $15 extra = $75,000. Apply that money to current salaries and hire someone with qulifications. There are professionals out there that can make our fraternity run more efficient, more cost productive, that don't require on the job training and can truly separate the business aspect from the brotherhood aspect to make sound financial decisions. And the money and time we save on that would be worth the extra $15.

Lets play math, shall we?

See the problem is that your extra $15 would bring MAYBE 2 staff positions to par with the for-profit world. Throw in beneifts, then your funding mechanism only pays for about 1.6 staff members. And while your onyl concerned with the LCAP issues, theres about 10 or so staff member positions within the three Lambda Chi Alpha Member Companies (LCAP, The Educational Foundation and the General Fraternity) that would need to be $15 x 6.66 (for the staffers) and that would be an additional $100. Honestly, I think it would be greatr to be able to pay staff what they were worth (we didnt even figure in the ELC's or para-professionals) but my undergrads wouldnt support an increase (not a total) of $230 a year in dues (which I think are about $45 a semester, or $90 a year) for staff salaries and benefits. Thats not even figuring in Insurance fees. THe group I advise pays approx $50 a man a semester in Insurance (and thats cheap). So grand total that would be $420 a year. At current billing levels, my colony members pay approx $600 a year, so that would only leave $180 a man a YEAR to run a zeta. Theres NO WAY my guys would ever go for that.

[GammaZeta]

I think the LCAP costs would likely come from the LCAP revenue. Not everyone is involved with LCAP so charging the general membership wouldn't be fair. Maybe they raise some rent, maybe they cut some costs. Heck, we gave them a $600,000 house. After taxes, and some repairs, they should easily be able to make that property very profitable.

As for General Fraternity and Education, it may be worth the gamble to charge an extra $15 or $20 to bring someone in that could financially save us some money. Why not try to hire someone that could cut costs, find the waste, make our fraternity operations more efficient, go over our books. Hire someone who has experience doing that.

There is alot of waste that I witnessed in my years in LXA.

I don't know how much these guys at IHQ make. Obviously it's not public record. But there is three ways to get the $$$ needed: 1. raise dues (don't like that one) 2. cut costs/make it run more efficient (I like that one) 3. raise more gifts

I'm really just saying that it makes much more sense to me if we hired people (even if they are not part of the fraternity) that have more experience or education in the field that the position requires.

Looking over the background of the people in the positions, it seems like we almost always hire from within the fraternity, despite a lack of experience or education. I would really like to know the hiring/search process that our fraternity uses when filing a position. Does being a LXA weigh more in the hiring process than having the experience and education for the position. That is what I want to know.

[lenoxxx]

Wow you filed a lawsuit, I guess that makes you an expert on something. Gamma Zeta, your opinion means about Jack to me, and most likely always will be.

Nobody knows who you are, you claim to be a brother/alumni, and nobody knows what you do, so again, you sidestepped my question as to what makes you qualified to tell people they cant do their jobs. You could be a guy stocking shelves at a grocery store, we really dont know.

You do bitch alot, and have alot of opinions, but like most people that do bitch alot, I suspect you wont do much when it comes to actually doing things, as in the case of most chronic complainers.

Lenoxxx

[Tom Earp]

GammaZeta, I think a lot of people have made their feelings well taken.

You say you want Professional Staffing, well, I think maybe you have been out of the loop a little to long and are remembering times of old.

Are they, do we, have the best staff of any International or National Greek Organization? As far as I am concerned, you damn bettacha!

The Staff Ladies stayed in the hotel, and yes paid by LXA, but were away from their Familys and worked 16 hour days.

Does Kip, Joe, John, Mark and anyothers hve degrees to run an oporation such as an International Greek Organization? Maybe not, but they have all come up through the ranks as Brothers and because of the learning that they gained from that have the right to be offerd a position of trust and Management.

As lifesaver, Jono, and Lenoxxx have said, just how many people do you know as a Grad. of a College that are working in the field that they have a degree in?

A College Degree as was as was stated just a prep session. In went into retailing for RH Macys. They had classes for us that were much tougher than what I had in College. They told us simply, you learned to study in College, now We will teach you about retailing. I had a Business Degree.

Many of us have asked you who you are and if you are a truism or not.

I have made the comment, if you love LXA and what it stands for, then get with the young men who are there and work with them to become LXA and Have G Z back on Campus. Old days are gone, we all have problems and most of it should be taken care of on the local Chapter level.

Through this, you may just become a Hero as opposed to an Asswhole.

It is still your decision, but wont it benefit You, These Young Men, and LXA if you dig back in?

[lifesaver]

Originally posted by GammaZeta
I think the LCAP costs would likely come from the LCAP revenue. Not everyone is involved with LCAP so charging the general membership wouldn't be fair. Maybe they raise some rent, maybe they cut some costs. Heck, we gave them a $600,000 house. After taxes, and some repairs, they should easily be able to make that property very profitable.

As for General Fraternity and Education, it may be worth the gamble to charge an extra $15 or $20 to bring someone in that could financially save us some money. Why not try to hire someone that could cut costs, find the waste, make our fraternity operations more efficient, go over our books. Hire someone who has experience doing that.

There is alot of waste that I witnessed in my years in LXA.

I don't know how much these guys at IHQ make. Obviously it's not public record. But there is three ways to get the $$$ needed: 1. raise dues (don't like that one) 2. cut costs/make it run more efficient (I like that one) 3. raise more gifts

I'm really just saying that it makes much more sense to me if we hired people (even if they are not part of the fraternity) that have more experience or education in the field that the position requires.

Looking over the background of the people in the positions, it seems like we almost always hire from within the fraternity, despite a lack of experience or education. I would really like to know the hiring/search process that our fraternity uses when filing a position. Does being a LXA weigh more in the hiring process than having the experience and education for the position. That is what I want to know.

They hire the people that apply. I woudl bet my letters that they didnt pass over 4 or 5 PhD applicants for Sternhagen. The staff is smarter than that and you dont seem to give them the credit due. Sorry you were burned, but it seems that maybe you are just speakign from a position of anger and hurt.

Again, because you dont know, and people love to bitch without knowing the facts ('cause everyones an expert on how the fraternity is run) you cant imagine the cost cutting strategies the staff has put in place. Example, ELC's no longer have fraternity credit cards. All expensises are paid for on their own and then they turn in reciepts for reimbusement. There are numerous others that I dotn have time to mention. PM me if ya like.

They have also begun a capital campaign, that as of this summer raised 2.5 million dollars. And its only in its infancy.

[Tom Earp]

lifesaver, call, PM, or email me! I am at your calling Bro!

[GammaZeta]

Hi Leno,
So what exactly makes you an expert as well? Lifesave, I wasn't burned by LCAP, me and my brothers were justly compensated by Massachusetts Law.

I'm not bringing up the lawsuit as bitterness (again, justice was served) but to illustrate a point.

Here ya go: http://www.mass.gov/portal/index.jsp...itie&csid=Eoca

That link took me less than 2 minutes to find and it outlines everything a Massachusetts landlord needs to follow the law.

Unfortunately, LCAP decided to violate about 60% of those rules, especially the part about security deposits. The brothers that represented me at court said the Clerk Magistrate was shocked at the blatant violations by LCAP.

Their lack of research resulted in LCAP paying, if I remember correctly, somewhere around $750 to each brother renting from them. If I recall correctly there were 15 brothers, which would mean their mistake cost them about $11,250 in damages.

Again, it would have taken a whole 2 minutes to find that information to prevent a lawsuit. We even warned them that what they were doing was illegal. You don't need to be a lawyer. But it is common sense that when you handle a security deposit, there are strict rules that you MUST follow.

What is their excuse? They didn't know Mass. law? They have owned the Worcester, Mass. house for years so it's not like they didn't have the time to do a quick internet search.

What I want to know is how many other times did this situation happen? Do you think a professional property manager would have made that mistake, someone with experience? That one mistake cost them around $10,000.

I'm telling you this to illustrate a POINT. I didn't live in the 50 other houses they own, I lived in one and that was my experience with them.

Now I ask you. If you had my experience, where it was very clear that LCAP had violated state law, a law and regulations which could easily have been found and complied with, that they were WARNED about the violations, and they still chose to ignore them: and then to find out that the same people who took no responsibility to perform even the most basic of tasks, got PROMOTED?

If it were a private firm in which these violations were found, and then it was discovered that the person in charge of the house could have easily avoided paying out damages, that person would have been fired, not promoted.

That is my experience. Maybe you'll understand now why I am questioning the expertise and qualifications of these people. A bunch of college 19 year olds knew the law better than the hired property managers. So yes, I AM qualified to question the background and qualifications of these people.

If you would like, instead of my nightly installment of my journal, I could do a step by step of the violations, relate them to Mass. Law and the contract that was signed (the sample contract on the website is almost exactly like the one we were presented.)

Please remember: This is MY experience with them. You probably had a great experience with them, where they were knowledgeable, hard working and knew all the information available. I'm glad you had a good experience and I respect it. Me and my brothers, on the other hand, did not have a good experience in which they showed they were not knowledgeable and did not know all the information available. I hope you respect that.

Now, I hope you can at least UNDERSTAND, I'm not asking you to accept or change your mind, why I have reservations.

*Goes into the basement, blocks off the doors and windows, hides under a table with emergency food and water and prepares to be flamed and assaulted.*

[lenoxxx]

Again,

You wont answer any of the simple questions that I have outlined. I never claimed to be an expert, however If you are going to rank on others, or demand that people lose their jobs, lets hear some qualifications.

#1- are you even a brother? who are you?
#2- Do you have a name?
#3- Do you have a job?

Frankly after seeing your whining, it may be a good thing the Massachusetts chapter was closed. That is, if you are really a brother, and if the other guys are like you, which is hard to tell. Nonethless, Im tired of your whining, and will no longer reply to your anonymous cry baby tantrums.

Lenoxxx

[GammaZeta]

Hi Leno,
I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my ability.

1. No I am not a brother. I spied on Gamma Zeta while secretly living in the basement for 4 years. I then moved to Indiana where I disguised myself as a chair while learning the secrets of the national fraternity. Then, as part of my master plan, I will secretly bring down LXA on an internet message board, leaving thousands of young men without a fraternity. I will then create a fraternity based on ruling the world, and recruit all the former LXA's!!!! MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA (evil laugh) THE WORLD IS MINE! Obviously that is sarcasm.

Yes, I am a brother. Obviously I cannot devulge our initiation secrets, so I will try to answer any questions you have to prove I am a brother. If you would like, and if other senior members approve, I could answer a question from our initiation ritual through PM. That's the only way I think I can prove I'm a brother. I think other members know you very well and know you are a brother, so I will leave it up to them

2. Yes I have a name. Will I give it out? No. But as I told several other senior members, I will be more than happy to tell you who I am through email and private messages, once I get to know everyone better. Sorry if I don't go throwing my name and personal information around public internet message boards to people I have never met.

3. Yes I have a job, please see #1 - Evil Scientist trying to obtain world domination (just kidding).

I do have a job, I also attend graduate school at night.

I like you Lenoxxx. You stick up for what you think. To bad we couldn't be internet chat room friends.

But as the saying goes (do not read if you are politically correct or easily offended):

"Arguing on the internet is like the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still a retard."

GO RED SOX!!!!!!!

[EM1843]

Well just to calm any fears that you might have that INT isn't listening our chapter president got a call yesterday from our ELC about what I've posted on this thread. They also called our Advisor and Grand High Phi Doc Smith. Apparently something I have said was very offensive to our ELC and other members of Staff on this thread. I'm really not sure what it was, but apparently I'm not allowed to have an opinion on the general fraterntiy or it's staff unless it is that they are gods to be worshiped and never questioned.
On a positive note I'm working on getting Doc Smith on the site so INT HQ will have another voice other than Lynn's. I expect I'll be getting a phone call about this post too...
Hopefully some ELCs will join up too so we can get some imput from them, rather than just lurking...

[GammaZeta]

Keep it up EM, you're actually doing the fraternity a great service by posting and making your voice heard. It does a great disservice to our fraternity when the only thing that is discussed is how great we are and how there are no problems. We NEED to hear about the problems, especially from the guys on the front lines like you.

Yes, you are allowed to have an opinion, no matter what it is. YOU are part of the fraternity, YOU do the recruiting, YOU keep it going and YOU give them $$$. You bet you have an opinion and it DOES count. Anyone else that says differently can go screw.

We must keep questioning what goes on in IHQ, our universities and colleges and our own chapters. Talking about rainbows and butterflies and then ignoring what the problems are will be the end of our fraternity.

Think about it, where do you get most of LXA's information from? The website, C & C, General Assembly, regional conferences, LXA employees, other LXA publications...ALL OWNED AND OPERATED BY LXA! Of course they aren't going to tell everyone about the bad things going on, but those things still need to be known and told.

We need testimony like yours. If you think someone is not doing their job or is unfair, COMPLAIN. If you think you are getting ignored and screwed, COMPLAIN.

You said "Apparently something I have said was very offensive to our ELC and other members of Staff on this thread"

You said nothing that was offensive. You only said the truth. Truth hurst sometimes.

EM, hang in there, you are doing a good job. After all "It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease."

If you need some advice or have something to say that you don't want in the general forums, please feel free to give me a private message. Maybe I can relate my experiences dealing with IHQ.

[EM1843]

Don't get me wrong. I've had a number of great experiences with HQ and the general fraternity. I really enjoyed being on International Ritual Team this summer as well as the rest of general assembly.
I just have alot of problems with the way they handle chapters and their methods for 'keeping touch' with chapters.
Most of the time my complaints about HQ are not that big, there of course are a few exceptions, but this is a large concern of mine. Why is their no general fraternity "Big Brother packets"? Why is their not a planned out fraternity education plan to help chapters? Every other group has their "pledge manuals" and their "pledge tests." How are we supposed to ensure that everyone in the fraternity knows about the organization, assosciate, active, and alumni?
There are alot of great resources for the delta, theta, phi, iota,...
what about the kappa and the big brother coordinator?
These positions are not well defined. "Fraternity educator" is not new member educator, so then what is it? What is their job? To set up speakers about chapter issues?
These are the issues we are facing right now, and I don't feel that HQ has easy solutions to these problems. Our relations with INT HQ have greatly improved over the years, but this is something they can really work on. Chapter services shouldn't be an ELC visit every semester, but ideas, help, packets, anything...